Trip-Tech

I try to be as honest as possible when it comes to my professional reporting, but I had to write a story in which for tact/professional/fear-o’-the-law reasons I had to omit a certain truth. For the podcast I work for, I just did an audio piece on a trippy little device, a walkman that takes environmental sound and in real-time converts it into synthesized modern music that it pumps into your headphones. Even just on the surface this is pretty cool in that everyday street noise (like squealing subways, monotonous ATM beeping, loud motors, construction racket, and annoying teenage passersby) sound like enchanting trance music. BUT, there is an entire other dimension to this invention. Because it is live, because as you see the giant semi-truck pass by, as you feel the rushing wind of the subway train, as your nose and fingers tickle from the vibration of the jackhammer, you are expecting to hear something else. Instead, you hear this lovely music. And, it’s interactive because if you laugh or say “oh my” it gets incorporated into the sound track rhythmically.

“So what’s the problem?” you ask. “What do you have to lie about in your reporting?” Here’s the problem: The overall effect is EXACTLY like an LSD trip. I mean, there is no other equivalent that I have ever come across. Except for the visual hallucinations and the overall desire to touch things, the entire afternoon I spent on this piece felt just like I was on acid. Even after the interview, I had that post-trip haziness in which you know you are back in the real world, but the psychoactive world still buzzes in your memory. And, just as acid changes your perception of the world for the rest of your life, so did this crazy little walkman. But, how do you write about that? How do you refer to an acid trip and still make this family-friendly journalism? I couldn’t figure it out, so I just lied (by omission).

PS. To further damn myself to the hypocrite’s circle of hell, I am about to write a chapter on illegal drugs for a high school health book. Never trust what your teacher’s tell you!

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